NetflixThe Thursday Murder Club was a bestselling book that’s now set to become a huge Netflix movie, so here’s your guide to the complicated plot, including the identity of the killer(s).
Written by British TV host Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club is a 2020 mystery novel about the residents of retirement community – Elizabeth, Ron, Ibrahim, and newcomer Joyce – who investigate cold cases, and find a very warm one falling into their collective laps.
We awarded the new movie adaptation 4-stars, and wrote in our Thursday Murder Club review that it’s “twee beyond belief, but also a faithful adaptation of Richard Osman’s novel; one that delivers the requisite murder and mystery, as well as laughter and the odd tear.”
The movie dropped on Netflix today (August 28), and if the whodunnit at the heart of the story had you scratching your head, we’ve broken down what happened below. Meaning MAJOR SPOILERS ahead…
The Thursday Murder Club cold case explained
The Thursday Murder Club kicks off with the team investigating “the case of the woman in white who fell out of a window.”
The death occurred on May 11, 1973, and was investigated by the Club’s ailing friend Penny, whose ill health has put her out of action, but who used to be a police officer.
As Elizabeth explains: “At approximately 12.48am, in the Brick Lane section of East London, a man was walking back from the pub to the home of his girlfriend, Angela Hughes, when he heard two voices emanating from her second-floor window.”
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We then see this version of events depicted in black-and-white, via Angela flying out of the window in her nightgown with a knife in her chest, and a man in a balaclava then dashing out of the premises.
“When the police arrived, Angela was already dead. They searched her apartment, but nothing had been stolen.”
Being a “broke couple,” robbery therefore doesn’t appear to be the motive, so Elizabeth’s death has the club perplexed, but suspecting the boyfriend in question, Peter Mercer.
Two more murders in the present
NetflixThe Thursday Murder Club investigate cases from the past, but become involved with one in the present when two men are killed pretty much on their doorstep.
The first is Tony Curran, a dodgy building contractor who is bludgeoned in his nearby home. Following his death, a small fortune is headed to local businessman Ian Ventham, plus it clears the way for him to turn the retirement home into luxury flats. Making Ventham the prime suspect.
But then he’s murdered, having been injected with a deadly dose of fentanyl. Meaning the TMC now have three murders to solve, as well as a potential fourth, thanks to some old bones that are discovered on top of a coffin in the local graveyard.
Whodunnit in The Thursday Murder Club?
NetflixPeter Mercer murdered Angela Hughes, Penny Grey murdered Peter Mercer, Bogdan Jankowski murdered Tony Curran, and John Grey murdered Ian Ventham.
Let’s start with Curran, as that’s a pretty standalone crime. Bogdan is a local handyman and also an undocumented worker. As part of a scheme to bring immigrants into the country illegally, Curran helped organise transport, but also kept their passports.
Bogdan wanted his back, confronted Curran in his home, and when said document wasn’t forthcoming, killed him.
The other three murders are connected. Firstly, Peter Mercer killed Angela Hughes, and Penny knew it but was powerless to send him down for the crime. Having seen too many domestic abusers walk free, she therefore took matters into her own hands, killed him, and hid the body in that grave.
Her husband John intended to take that secret to his own grave, but Ventham’s efforts to dig up the cemetery meant the world would know what Penny had done, so he also took matters into his own hands, and poisoned Ventham to protect his wife.
How does the story end?
NetflixThe Thursday Murder Club ends with Bogdan being arrested for Curran’s murder, and John using what’s left of the fentanyl to kill himself and his wife.
The Thursday Murder Club attend their double funeral, and promise to miss and remember them always.
They make Joyce an official member, before she advises her daughter to purchase the retirement community to protect their home.
Then it’s all about their loved ones, with Ron watching football with his son, Joyce and Ibrahim sharing pictures of their late partners, and Elizabeth dancing with her husband – who suffers from dementia – to ‘Oh Very Young’ by Cat Stevens. A touching note on which to end the story.
The Thursday Murder Club is on Netflix now, while you can head here for more of the best thrillers on Netflix, or here for the best movies streaming on Netflix this month.